Buck's Patch of Heaven
by tealish
Summary: Home On the Range fic. Post-Movie. Grace has a talk with a brooding Buck after everything goes down. Grace/Buck


_Tis a Buck x Grace fic for the Disney movie, Home on the Range! This was done for a prompt on the Disney Kink meme, but it's very PG innocent fluff stuff. Woo~_

_I can totally see why everyone avoids the movie, but I personally found some of the characters pretty cute. Specifically Grace, ohh I loved her (: Her VA has such a sweet soothing voice and she's a funny character._

_Fic takes place after movie when Buck is brooding over how he can't hero-worship Rico anyone cause he turned out to be crooked._

_Enjoyy_

* * *

In helping save Pearl's 'Patch of Heaven', Buck had lost his own.

An adventurer at heart, he'd grown up pestering every single horse that'd passed through town for stories - what was it like out there, in the Wild Wild West? Had they ever been in any exciting high speed chases with criminals? Rescued damsels in distress? Performed any crazy daring feats of myth, like leaping over a canyon?

What were cowboys like?

When it'd come to grits, there was only so much Buck could chew at a time, but when it came to stories, he never could seem to get his fill.

Their tales weren't enough, though. He needed something else to spice up life in this dozy desert town, needed to feel that RUSH, that THRILL he'd been aching for his whole life. Vivid daydreams during tic tac toe games with the Sheriff's dog were nice, but Buck found himself quite empty after that fleeting moment of satisfaction was gone.

His hunger for adventure seemed to finally be answered when that Rico fellow first came to town.

An excitable beast by nature, Buck could never keep his attention on one subject for too long before it flitted to the next, but when Rico had trudged up to the Sheriff's office in his big ol' boots and low brimmed cowboy hat, the horse had stared with curiosity. And when the broad shouldered stranger heaved an unconscious, tied up outlaw onto the front porch, his heart had almost stopped.

From the minute Rico had grunted out his name to the bewildered Sheriff, Buck decided that there was no other that he admired more. Rico was the tough, adventurous idol he hadn't known he'd been searching for and now, his highest aspiration in life was to simply join the bounty hunter on one of his sure-to-be-INCREDIBLE excursions into the West.

He'd eventually gotten his wish around the time those bossy bovines, as he'd called them, came to town and, for the moment, life had seemed perfect, his wildest dreams realized and whatnot. Then, quite out of the blue, he'd been dumped for another horse and found himself tracking down that no good outlaw, Slim, all on his own to prove his worth. Things got messy when the cows got to Slim first, and even messier when Rico had stepped up to accept green bills from him instead of wrangling the sleaze bag up like the criminal he was.

In the end, Buck had gotten to kick some bad guy booty after all – he just hadn't expected the said rear-end to belong to Rico, his personal *hero*. It was difficult for him to sort out how he felt about this, though disappointment was definitely part of it.

At least the party that had ensued from saving Pearl's ranch had distracted him from his thoughts for a little while.

It wasn't until after the sun went down and all the partying was taken inside the lit up barn, that the troubled horse had been able to slip away to the far end of the darkened yard. Everyone was too intent on watching the square dance off ( Pearl and Sam vs Mrs. Caloway and Junior) inside to notice Buck's absence. Which was alright with him, he thought, as he gnawed on some grass and frowned at the moon in the most lament-ful way possible.

"Buck…?" A soft, familiar voice split the quiet of the night. From the corner of his eye, he could see a yellow blur approaching.

Oh, he realized, it's *her*.

He continued chewing the grass slowly, showing no signs that he might've heard her save for the twitch of an ear. He wasn't in the mood for her bubbly gabble; couldn't she see that he was brooding?

"Buck, I realize you're probably not feeling too great right now… probably even more upset than you were when I tried to talk to you back in the desert."

He grunted. What did she think she was, a psychiatrist?

"And I just want you to know that I understand what you're going through. I mean, I once idolized this cow who won blue ribbons at the fair every year, but of course that was before everyone discovered that she was adding artificial sweeteners to her mil—"

"What makes you think I CARE about those stupid showoff-y contests you cows get into?" Buck finally snapped. "I don't see how that has anything to do with ME."

She opened her mouth to respond, but he cut her off—

"And if you haven't NOTICED, I want to be ALONE right now. If you were really SO perceptive, you'd have realized that. So GET LOST!" He practically whinnied in her face.

Grace was unfazed. Annoyingly so.

"You might say that, Buck, but you know as well as I do that you really need a friend right now. And I'm willing to be that friend, alright?" Buck wanted to stomp his hooves and growl at her, yet there was something genuine in her calm, soothing voice that made him falter. He opted for another biting response instead.  
"Look, I don't need anyone feelin' sorry for me, especially not YOU."

"I'm *not* here to 'feel sorry' for you, I just want to help you work out whatever feelings you might be having at the moment," She replied, ever patiently.

He snorted. How could a ditzy cow understand anything about him?

"Oh, yeah? And what do YOU know about my 'feelings'?" He squawked.

"I know they're about Rico."

Buck stopped chewing. He turned and his long face was level with her smaller one for the first time.

She was staring at him intently.

"You admired him with all of your heart, didn't you? It's no wonder that you'd feel betrayed by his actions. But it's time to let go of him, okay?"

She must have been guessing. There was no other way she could've read him so accurately.

"Hold up! How do YOU know that I-?"

"Well, you didn't exactly make it a secret," She was the one who interrupted this time, a note of amusement creeping into her steady voice. She playfully flicked his side with her tail. Somehow, Buck felt his irritation slowly ebbing away and his gaze dropped to his hooves.

"He was my hero…" He admitted, his neigh was almost a whisper. Grace's silence urged him to go on.

"I wanted more than anything to be his loyal partner, at his side in every dangerous and exciting adventure he rode us into, hoping to be as *brave* and *tough* as he was, yknow? I wanted to BE him, Grace," Buck's voice cracked a little. "And it was all a *lie*. It's like I've got nothing left now."

Grace suddenly nudged his shoulder with her snout and reluctantly, he dragged his gaze to hers; the determination in her eyes made him flinch.

"There, there, Buck" She was patting his flank with her tail; he twitched.

"Don't be ridiculous! You know that isn't true. You've got the Sheriff, you've got friends who care about you – me, for example," She seemed to tremble a little at the last part, her long eyelashes fluttering shyly.

Buck sighed and slumped into a sitting position, his reins shifting on the grass.

"Why are you even talking to me right now? This ain't a blue ribbon event at a fair or anything – what do you hope to GAIN?"

"Didn't you hear me? I care about you, silly!" There was that genuine tone again. "And I don't like to see you like this – life's too short to spend it moping around!"

Buck bit his lip, contemplating her words. For someone as relentlessly scatter-brained as she, Grace *did* have a point…

"And, and you know what?" Grace continued, unexpectedly, "I don't think that Rico guy was ever so great anyway – you overpowered him easily and we took him down in what? A minute?"

She grinned at the memory.

"You even said that you'd figured out who the REAL heroes were, remember that? Well, you were right, Buck – you ARE a hero! And twice as tough as Rico ever was, that's for sure."

Buck found himself perking up a bit, a smile twitching at his lips.

"I really was something, wasn't I…?"

He jumped up suddenly, a new fire in his eyes as he struck some of his usual fighting poses.

" Heck, I don't know if you gals could see from that train car, but I was all HEE-YAH! And WHOOP-AH! And WHAM! Those guys went down quicker than daisies in a flash flood! Haha!" He let out a gleeful whinny as the moment of victory rushed back to him.

"Yeah, and the way they were shaking when we tied them up? I think Rico wet his pants!" Grace let out a giggly moo, her pink snout wrinkling with joy, and Buck joined in with his own neighing laughter.

"Aw man, what an *adventure* we had, huh? You were pretty great, too , high-jacking that train and all! Sure, we beat up the bad guys, but we NEVER woulda made it back into town on time if it weren't for you girls."

"Well, that's true, I guess…"

And then, when you FLEW into the air and WHAM kicked that bell into Slim's pie hole when he tried yodeling again – that was AMAZING! I underestimated you, geez!"

"Oh, stop~" Grace chided, but she seemed to glow at the compliment nonetheless.

"We make a great team!" Buck neighed, giving Grace a little punch on the shoulder.

"Yeah," She grinned through a cringe, rubbing her shoulder.

"You know… you were really brave back there, Buck."

"Nahh, I was just – just –"

She's locked eyes with him again, a demure smile tugging at her lips, and suddenly, it hit the steed just how close they were, her soft flank pressed to his.

Buck gulped and opened his mouth to complete his thought when—

"Tag, you're it!" She jabbed him on the shoulder and bolted, her lilting voice turning to a frivolous giggle.

"H-huh—? " He gaped at her. She was prancing circles around him.

"Na na na na~" She sang, in that cutely-unaware off key way of hers, "Betcha can't catch me!"

Buck couldn't believe how much the tone of the evening had changed – from brooding to playing, but, surprisingly, he found himself game! He knew a challenge when he saw one. Breaking out of his shock, he launched himself forward to chase her, but something tugged at his reins and he ended up tumbling comically to the ground instead.

"C'mon, I thought you were quick on your feet!" Grace called, teasingly.

Somehow, without him realizing, she'd weaved his reins around the fencepost; sneaky. He assumed struggling to free his reins from the post.

"Uh-huh, you heard RIGHT! So, get ready to experience Buck, the WORLD'S GREATEST SPEED DEMON as you've never seen 'im before!" He neighed back, digging his hooves into the dirt.

"C'mon – less talking, more chasing! You're still IT, you know!"

She made a pass by him again and stuck out her tongue. Buck felt familiar frustration building up inside of him, along with a new feeling – an odd… amusement.

Had she always been this exciting?

"Finally!" Buck proclaimed as he pulled free at last. Wasting not a moment, he raced after her.

She'd gotten a good headstart in the shadowy grasses, but that wouldn't last long! Buck was in his element now, he was built for speed, endurance, he was about four seconds from catching up with her.

They were a good distance from the barn and the fence now and Grace seemed still unaware of his closing proximity, because she was still laughing breathlessly. Almost without a noise, he galloped up so he was beside her left flank and—

"BOO!"

A cute moo of surprise escaped Grace and she broke fiercely, spinning around in the dust to scrabble away again, change direction, but—

"Nu-uh! It's too late to change course now, sister!"

And with that, he leaped forward, pinning her body to the ground with his, effectively ending the chase.

"Hah! TAG! I win!" Buck crowed, happily.

"T-that doesn't mean you, you win, silly!" She laughed, panting. "Besides, you're not following the rules– you're supposed to keep running, not trap the other player!"

"Heyy, I'M not the one who stole a headstart by tying ME to a fencepost!" He countered, but she could see he was still in good humor when they locked gazes.

A few moments of companionable silence passed as they caught their breath. Then—

"Uh… Buck?"

"Yep?"

"You can get off of me now. Heh." She was staring him, twitching her ears inquisitively.

He paused.

"I dunno… you STILL haven't hailed me as the World's Greatest Speed Demon!"

"You didn't mention that before – and why should I?" Grace retorted, teasingly.

"C'mon! Just say it! You know you want to~" Buck coaxed.

Grace appeared to consider something for a moment, looking away; when she turned back to him, her eyes were half lidded.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were using this name thing as an *excuse* to be this close to me." Grace said in a tone much lower than her regular. Buck froze, victorious smirk fading.

"Say whuh-?" He choked.

"You heard me," Grace smirked, and then she pushed her smaller nose to his in an affectionate nuzzle.

Odd chills seized Buck and he acted on his first impulse - to recoil, large hooves kicking up dust.

Wow. What... had just happened?

Grace instantly popped up and spun around to face him.

"Hah! I was just kidding around, silly," Her regular sugary voice had come back and it was punctured by chuckling amusement. "After tying you to that fence post, I'd have thought you'd be more on your guard around me~"

Buck was still struggling to find words. His snout was burning.

"What was – I – you—?"

"Tell you what – to make it up to you, I'll race you back! How does that sound?" Grace piped up, unexpectedly. Taking his mute nod as an answer, the cow flicked her tail at him in a playful beckon, and shot out towards the lighted windows of the barn house.

Buck shook his mane and, not even trying to hide his smile this time, ran after her.

Maybe, Buck hadn't lost his own patch of heaven after all.


End file.
